Thursday, 14 February 2008

Running is my true love

Today, capitalist commercialism is the biggest aspect of Valentine’s Day. Hundreds of millions of pounds are spent on chocolate, confectionery, flowers, dinners, hotel rooms, jewelry, and other gifts used to celebrate February 14th. There’s a lot of money to be made from people’s desire to commemorate the day. Only Christmas and Halloween come close in the way that modern commercialism has transformed and adopted an ancient pagan celebration.



Ok, so it's valentines day. I've been feeling pretty fed up this week, with my knee still bothering me. I don't know if a problem with my collateral ligament is any more serious than whatever I thought was wrong with it before I saw my GP, but it sounds a bit more serious. I've been kicking myself for not running on Tuesday and doing "non impact aerobics" instead, as I should have been running. Or should I have been resting altogether? I don't know. Do I get a second opinion? Do I need any more opinions? Everyone seems to have one; from resting altogether, to not worrying about it, to going ahead and doing the marathon despite being injured and walking it if I have to. I need some plain simple help. Will my injury get better? Will my injury get worse? Am I risking long term damage by carrying on running? As long as the answers to the latter questions are both "No", then I can cope with a "No" to all three... I shall be asking the physio tomorrow for some straight answers, so I can stop worrying, or stop training.

Today's plan was a five mile run. I took it steady, and then took it extra steady when my leg started its usual grumbles around mile 3. But I persevered, and I made it round five laps of the village (it seems a long time since I last ran these).

Mile 1 - 12m29s
Mile 2 - 13m15s
Mile 3 - 14m27s
Mile 4 - 14m10s
Mile 5 - 13m27s

At that pace I'd be doing a marathon in a little under 6 hours. If I can keep running for all 26 miles. I shall keep going for a few more weeks, and once I've done the Silverstone Half, I will know if I'm up to the London. Given the euphoria of running 5 miles this evening, I have every hope and expectation that continued physio treatment and the right exercises will get me both to the start line in Greenwich and the finish line in The Mall come April 13th.

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Running 13.1 miles in memory of Carl

I ran the Silverstone Half Marathon on 15th March 2009. I managed the 13.1 mile course in 2 hours and 4 minutes. Not a bad effort for my first Half Marathon! I returned in 2010 to run it in 1 hour 54 minutes, and plan to do it again in 2011. I decided to run this in aid of The PSC Trust and PSC Support in memory of my brother Carl, who died from liver failure in November 1997. If you'd like to sponsor me for this - please email me at pscrun@ulen.me.uk PSC Trust
PSC Support Or visit my Justgiving page for PSC Support at PSC Support - Justgiving
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